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Comment by Tripatini on November 11, 2010 at 1:37pm

Now on the Tripatini blog: a look at the booming medical tourism industry in India.

Comment by Northeast News on September 24, 2010 at 10:04am

DEATH TOURISM

As some of you know, I'm still fascinated by public relations efforts that are all about damage control. ABC News reports that increasing numbers of tourists are visiting Switzerland for assisted suicides, and, as Switzerland's tourism minister says, the whole business is making Switzerland look bad.

Should Switzerland put an end to this?

Comment by David Lawrence on August 20, 2010 at 4:10pm

Coupla hundred miles north of us here in New England, Canadian doctors have issued a warning about transplant tourism. They say that you're likely to get an organ that the hospitals didn't get in a fair way. Anyone here seen 'Dirty Pretty things'?

Comment by Ed Wetschler on August 18, 2010 at 9:14am

Sam, Indian hospitals report no slowdown in medical tourism since that Lancet report came out. But could that be because people were already booked and committed -- and that they will start backing out now?

Comment by Sam Scribe on August 16, 2010 at 10:04am

I have friends who've had surgical procedures overseas, to both good and bad effect. Now Lancet, the British medical magazine, has reported that a new superbug that's resistant to antibiotics originated in India, so it might be a bad idea of British patients to visit India for surgery. I wonder how much this will affect medical tourism.

Comment by Ed Wetschler on August 12, 2010 at 11:35am

Bankrate.com names five medical procedures that Americans should get abroad, for reasons related to both money and quality: Hip replacement, in vitro fertilization, angioplasties and mitral valve replacements, dental caps/crowns/veneers, and gastric bypass. Is this list correct?

Comment by José Balido on September 21, 2009 at 8:55am

Latest entry in the "Yankee Go Home" category:

US medical tourists turned away by Zurich hospital for fear of lawsuits

Sep 20, 2009 (eTurboNews.com)

Zurich University Hospital has stopped treating North American "medical tourists", fearing million-dollar claims from litigious patients if operations go wrong.

Keep reading...

Guess our litigious ways are finally catching up with us!

Comment by David Paul Appell on May 1, 2009 at 8:13pm

Interesting article I came across this week re South Korea:

South Korea Sees Medical Tourism Boom Under New Law
by Thomas Steinmetz, 4/28/2009

SEOUL - Hospitals will be allowed directly to seek foreign patients from May as part of South Korea's efforts to become Asia's new medical tourism hub, officials said Tuesday.

"We expect about KRW300 billion ($221 million) in revenue this year in this sector, which will grow fast thanks to our aggressive overseas marketing to be legalized this week," said Lee Young-ho, a marketing director of the Global Healthcare Business Center.

The center, which is controlled by the health ministry, is forming a network of hospitals and travel agencies which will be officially allowed to seek patients abroad under a law which takes effect Friday.

"We expect more than 40 local travel agencies and hundreds of hospitals and clinics to apply for state licenses," Lee said. He forecast that about 50,000 foreigners would visit South Korea for treatment this year compared to 27,480 in 2008. "In 2013 about 200,000 foreign patients are expected to come," Lee said, adding foreign residents are excluded from the data.

Hospitals are currently barred from directly advertising for patients or accepting them through dedicated referral services. U.S. citizens accounted for 34% of total overseas patients last year, but the center hopes to attract more patients from Russia, Mongolia and China this year.

Lee said South Korea could surpass Singapore and Thailand to become Asia's new medical tourism hub in five years, citing a pool of skilled surgeons. The government has eased regulations on visa issuance for overseas patients.
Plastic surgery cornered about 4% of foreign patients treated by clinics associated only with the center last year. But many plastic surgeons did not report foreign patients.

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